Shigeru Miyamoto views games as products, not art

Smashgoom202

Smashgoom202

Dry Bowser
Retired Wiki Staff
I just saw someone mention this article:

http://gamez.itmedia.co.jp/games/articles/0910/27/news082_3.html

Since it's in Japanese I can't tell for sure, but the guy who brought it up pointed out one quote from the article:

Shigeru Miyamoto said:
"What we have created are not an art but products. For us, the most important are the customers and not games themselves. I always tell staff to call Nintendo games products, not an art."
Click to expand...
 
As we've seen with the half-assed NSMBW (which could obviously have been FAR better), this is quite true. For instance, NSMBW could easily have been bigger than Galaxy 2, and instead they made a game smaller than the less powerful Super Mario World.
 
I thought it was pretty damn awesome! ...Or maybe that's just the Koopalings talking... In either case, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a better example of half-assed-ness, with it literally being an expansion of the first Super Mario Galaxy.
 
Super Mario Sunshine, anyone?
 
Hard Man said:
As we've seen with the half-assed NSMBW (which could obviously have been FAR better), this is quite true. For instance, NSMBW could easily have been bigger than Galaxy 2, and instead they made a game smaller than the less powerful Super Mario World.
Click to expand...

Ugh yes nsmbwii had a horrible engine and mediocre level design at best, also suffered from god awful ost. Instant failure.

Hell yeah, it was different. No Goombas, weird-looking Koopas, a somewhat different plot (for once), FLUDD, Piantas, and VOICE ACTING. Definitely not what we expected.
Click to expand...

Uh who cares about the plot its a mario game, they're not even decent in rpgs, let alone a platformer. Plus that game was very experimental anyway, alot of gcn games were. Luigi's mansion, metroid prime, baiten kaitos, final fantasy crystal chronicles, to name a few.

Anyway something being art is subjective, but it's not a big deal.
 
I say video game making is actually an art, no matter how people call it. How people use their creativity to create worlds, stories, and characters sounds like art.

Of course, some games (I'm looking at you, Super Mario Galaxy 2) could be called products, but even they can have beautiful scenery and backgrounds. It makes me wonder how long they spent on artwork like the boxart.

BTW, I loved NSMBWii. The 4 player thing was awesome.
 
That sucks, because I really do appreciate games. I pay attention to the background music, the scenery, etc. I love Super Mario Galaxy's music, for instance, and I hack Mario Kart Wii mostly to replace its crappy soundtrack.
 
So they're calling it a "product" because they think that their customers are more important than their games? It makes no sense. Video games are definitely a work of art. It takes a lot of creativity to make them and it's not easy making a good game. The backgrounds and the music are all works of art. Video games are not just products.
 
Fawfulfury65 said:
So they're calling it a "product" because they think that their customers are more important than their games? It makes no sense. Video games are definitely a work of art. It takes a lot of creativity to make them and it's not easy making a good game. The backgrounds and the music are all works of art. Video games are not just products.
Click to expand...

This really depends on your perspective.

It may be a work for art for you but to them it's nothing more then a selling point for them.

As I said before the view of video games as art is really subjective.

Also creativity is really a double edged sword on its own, it can break or destroy a game, even if it's seen as creative, it can destroy a game entirely.
 
Fawfulfury65 said:
So they're calling it a "product" because they think that their customers are more important than their games? It makes no sense.
Click to expand...
It makes perfect sense. Nintendo is a company. Companies make things that sell so they can make money. It's this newfangled thing they call capitalism.

It boggles the mind that this many people are surprised that a massive company like Nintendo is not primarily concerned with making art.